This is the story of owning and operating a 1993 Beech Bonanza A36 in the UK and some of its adventures.
Recently like most people I have been scrambling around to find out what I should be doing about Mode S for the Bonanza. Obviously by now for an IFR plane like the A36 it should be done and dusted but like many people I felt it would be better to ignore it and hope it went away but it didn't.
I have now narrowed down the company to fit a Mode S transponder to G-FOZZ. It is going to be done at Tatenhill Aviation. We are just firming up a date but it is likely to be in May.
They have told me that currently there is very little loss to only having the Mode C in UK airspace as only London TMA is Mode S at the moment. Apparently in France and Germany there is more Mode S Airspace and details can be found on Euro Control Website. Apparently it changes often as they add more airspace before it all becomes Modes S next March.
It really annoys me that in the US you get full traffic service but in Europe our governments do not have the foresight to enable this feature. If it saved just one life it would be worth everyone paying out loads of cash to have them fitted but unfortunately it wont. It makes me really angry. What could have been a great safety benefit especially for light aviation has been skipped over.
